April 2, 2009

They really need to pace themselves

I mean, we haven't even hit 100 days yet; Obama's going to be president for at least four years.

Via Pandagon, the ever-enjoyably insane Gateway Pundit posts frantic alert about how Obama's citizen activism initiative is not only mandatory, but forbids children from participating in religious activity, with the slight exception of it not being mandatory and not forbidding children from participating in religious activity.

For some reason, a few hundred years' worth of clear and explicit rules about not proselytizing on the government's dime has been forgotten by a group of right-wing bloggers who, quite ironically, seem to be very well-versed on applying their religious beliefs to everyday life. Clearly there must be something different about the Obama administration that has suddenly sent them all into a fervor, but I can't put my Muslim negro on it.

March 30, 2009

"Congressional Stupid-Off"

I don't think enough people have a fair understanding of just how many members of Congress are complete and total idiots. The gerrymandering of districts has a lot to do with it- I mean, when you can customize your voting base with laser-like precision, obviously a district of morons will elect one of their own- but I also think that sadly it's just because so many people don't care.

David Cross made a point once that it's not fair to say that all Republicans are racist, homophobic, greedy idiots... it's just the people Republicans elect to represent them in Congress. We'd have a much better Washington if people had to defend their electoral decisions in a little more detail. And with everything else going on in Illinois, I need answers in writing if you live in that state. "Plant food?" Seriously?

March 29, 2009

Random thought

See, this is the thing that really gets me about this whole obsessioninterest obsession with JournoList- a bunch of bloggers who should be ashamed of what they write publicly are insisting that a bunch of other bloggers should be ashamed of what they write privately.

I really, truly do not understand the obsession with the child-like mockery of Ezra Klein coming from people a decade older them him that does not involve personal and professional jealousy. There is something very unpleasant about a bunch of middle-aged DC politicos becoming more and more open about their spite toward a group of younger, and by most accounts smarter, political pundits and their lack of inclusion into Klein's circle of friends. Skipping aside the invasion of privacy that any actual journalist would consider abhorrent, the purpose of printing these e-mails from a private listserv, as proven by the tone of the reactions from Mickey Kaus and Jonah Goldberg and the like, was not to actually address any policy disagreements with the people on the list, but merely to try and embarass Ezra. If this is "journalism" then so is TMZ's latest coverage of a Miley Cyrus nipple-slip.

How any of these people high-fiving each other became "journalists" astounds me. With the exception of Goldberg, who I realize simply wrote "hi, mommy!" on a piece of notebook paper, at some point these people actually had to produce something of value to advance in their field. I don't see evidence of this.